Wagon-brake.



No. 655,936. Patented Aug. l4," I900.

' E. F. MEYER.

WAGON BRAKE.'

(Application filed Mar. 6, 1900;

(No Model.)

WITNESSES i THE "cams Farms :0, mow-mun. WASHINGTON. 0 n

rrnn STATES PATENT QFFICE.

ERNST F. MEYER, OF WAVERLY PARK, NEW JERSEY.

WAGON-BRAKE.

sPEGlFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 655,936, dated AIigust14, 1900.

Application filed March 6, 1900. Serial No. 7,469. (No model.)

ings, and to letters of reference marked there on, which form a part ofthis specification.

The objects of this invention are to provide for springwagons, or wagonshaving the body mounted on springs, a brake which shall act upon therear side of the wheels, to thus prevent additional strain beingbroughtupon the wagon-springs by braking, to obtain a con struction by whichthe rearward displacement of the wagon-wheels with respect to the brakesdue to flexing of the wagon-springs under a heavy load shall becompensated for, and to secure other advantages and results, some ofwhich may be referred to hereinafter in connection with the descriptionof the working parts.

The invention consists in the improved wagon-brake and in thearrangements and combinations of parts of the same, all substantially aswill be hereinafter set forth and finally embraced in the clauses of theclaim.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like letters ofreference indicate corresponding parts in each of the several views,Figure 1 is a vertical section of a vehicle to which my improved brakingapparatus has been applied. Fig.2 is a horizontal section of the same,taken at line Fig. 3 is a detailed view of a lever and connectionsadapted to be applied at the rear axle of the vehicle. Fig. 4 is a frontview of the same. Fig. 5 is a side detail view of a braking-lever andconnections adapted to be applied to the rear of the vehicle-body, andFig. 6 is a rear view thereof.

In said drawings, a indicates the body of the vehicle, I) b the wheelsthereof, and c c the front and rear axles for said wheels. d 01represent the springs bearing on said axles and upon which springs thebody of the vehicle is supported.

To the rear of the vehicle-body are ful crumed, as at e, brake-shoelevers f, to the lower ends of which are attached the brakeshoes g, thesaid brake-shoes being adapted to press against the rear wheels I) andhold the same from turning. The brake-shoes g are connected by thetransverse rod 9 to hold said shoes in proper relation to the wheels.-It will be understood that these brake-shoes are hung at the rear of thewagon, so that they are adjacent to the peripheries of the rear wheelsat points to the rear of said wheels, and therefore the brake-shoesengage the peripheries of the wheels at points which are moving upwardin normal forward movement of the vehicle. Thus when the brakes are setthe friction of the wheel against the brake-shoe tends to lift said shoeand so exerts an upward pressure on the wagon-body which eases theweight of the load upon the springs of the wagon. The ordinary brake incommon use at the front of the wheels of spring-wagons on the contraryadds the down ward strain of the wheel scraping on the brake shoe inbraking to the load already upon the springs. It has been common toapply brakes,

to the rear of the wheels on skid-wagons or wagons having no springsbetween the body and axles; but in applying them to springwagons adifficulty has been experienced in that the relative displacement ofbody and wheels due to flexing of the springs disturbed the properrelation of wheels and brake-shoes 8 5 for braking. \Vagon-springs beingusually made fast to the wagon-body at their front ends and movablysecured thereto attheir rear ends it will be understood that a heavyload would so depress the springs as to move the rear wheels backwardenough to set them tight against the brakes if said brakes were at therear of the wheels and were not thrown back further by hand away fromthe approaching wheels. By my improved construction I 5 provide acompensating movement by which the brakes are automatically moved backfrom the wheels when the wagon-body is depressed, as will next bedescribed.

To the rear axle c is f nlcrumed, as at 7),, a Ice lever t', whichextends upward from said axle, and to the upper end thereof is pivoted aforwardly-extendin g forked connecting-rodj, the prongs j of whichdiverge, as shown in Fig. 2, to couple with the connecting-rods disposedat opposite sides of the vehicle near the rear wheels. Between thefulcru ms 71. and the ends of the prongs of the connecting- 5 rod j thesaid levers t' have their connections with the rods 70, the connectionsbeing so disposed as that when the said rod j is thrown forward, ashereinafter described, the said rods It will also move forward and drawthe shoes 9 into frictional contact with the wheel. The rod j ispreferably in sections, which are adjustable in. relation to one anotherby means of a turnbuckle Z, and the forward section j of said rod j ispivotally connected to a foot-lever m, fulcrumed at or upon a bracket 0,secured at the fore part of the vehicle-body ct, the saidconnecting-rodj being pivotally connected to the said lever m at 19,Fig. 1, so that when the said lever m is pressed 2o downward or forwardby the foot the connecting-rod j will also be thrown forward, and,

with it the levers 2' and connecting-rod 7.1,

forcing the brake-shoes 9 into contact with the wheels, as beforeindicated.

The rear section of the connecting-rod j slants upwardly forward fromthe lever t to the wagon-body a or is inclined, and thus any depressionof the springs such as lowers the body a and forces the wheels I)rearward 3o pushes the lever 1; rearward, as will be understood fromFig. l of the drawings. This throws the brake shoes rearward by anamount proportioned to the depression of the springs and prevents anyengagement of the parts before the foot-lever on is operated.

The parts are so disposed as that when the vehicle is moving forward andthe rear wheels turning, as indicated by the arrow, Fig. 1, Y

and the brake-shoes g are pressing against 40 the rear wheels 19 thesaid rear wheels will tend to throw the said brake-shoes upward, so thatthe levers f bear upward against the body at, thus relieving the rearsprings d of a portion of the weight of the said body, and

under no circumstances will the brake operations add to the downwardpressure upon the springs d, and thus when the vehicle is heavily loadedthere will be no pressure added in connection with the breakingoperation such as heretofore tended to unduly flex the springs and breakthe same.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new is-- 1. Inavehicle, the combination of an axle and running wheels, a wagon bodyand springs supporting said body upon said axle, brake-shoes hung at therear of said running wheels, levers fulcrumed upon the axle,coupling-rods extending from the brake-shoes to said levers, aconnecting-rod extending from said levers and means for applying draftto said rod, said rod having bearings upon the body of the vehicle andextending upward thereto from the levers on an incline,sub stautially asset forth.

2. In a vehicle, the combination with an axle, and running wheels, abody and springs supporting said body upon said axles, of a brake-shoesuspended from the body of the vehicle adjacent to the rear peripheraledge of a wheel, an upwardly and rearwardly in- ERNST F. MEYER.

Witnesses:

CHARLES H. PELL, O. B. PITNEY.

